Solicitation at College

[sanddrag]

Do you find yourself being constantly hit up by solicitors at your college? Buy this, donate to that, get a free this, stop by that; grrr it gets irritating. I'm finding myself having to walk new paths of travel to avoid all the solicitation. Does your college allow solicitors? From on campus or off or both? What is the worst or scariest experience you've ever had?

Why do people solicit at colleges? Don't they know college students have no money because it is all spent on education and food? Or maybe they think we are just vulnerable because we are young.

Please share your experiences.

[MissInformation]

The "get things free" stuff can be useful... My friends and I were so poor in college we used to go to the mall and fill out all of the forms for credit cards just to get the free stuff (which for some reason was almost always 2 liter bottles of soda). Oddly enough, we were never actually sent any credit cards...

Heidi

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Do you find yourself being constantly hit up by solicitors at your college? Buy this, donate to that, get a free this, stop by that; grrr it gets irritating. I'm finding myself having to walk new paths of travel to avoid all the solicitation. Does your college allow solicitors? From on campus or off or both? What is the worst or scariest experience you've ever had?

Why do people solicit at colleges? Don't they know college students have no money because it is all spent on education and food? Or maybe they think we are just vulnerable because we are young.Please share your experiences.

this is one of the major advantages to riding a bike around campus. if you ride fast enough, not only will they leave you alone, but they'll practically dive out of your way.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I'm a half college student, I guess, in that I take courses at Purdue and research there. However, I don't live there day to day and am not great at picking out the people to avoid.

The scariest people are the ultra-religious people. Frankly, I am not interested in hearing someone who I've never mets' religious opinion on this issue or that issue, that's for good friends and mature conversation. I wear a symbol on a necklace (star of david) that not everyone seems to be used to seeing and therefore am the target of solicitors asking me to walk a certain path or join a church. It's allowed, as well. It shouldn't be, but it's allowed.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Eugenia Gabrielov

The scariest people are the ultra-religious people. Frankly, I am not interested in hearing someone who I've never mets' religious opinion on this issue or that issue, that's for good friends and mature conversation. I wear a symbol on a necklace (star of david) that not everyone seems to be used to seeing and therefore am the target of solicitors asking me to walk a certain path or join a church. It's allowed, as well. It shouldn't be, but it's allowed.

Yes, religion is solicited as well. What's even scarier is when one of those people gets ahold of a microphone and something to stand on.

Let's here some more stories...

[Joshua May]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Yes, religion is solicited as well. What's even scarier is when one of those people gets ahold of a microphone and something to stand on.

Let's here some more stories...

Four words: Happy Happy Happy Guy. Apparently he stands across the street from Spraul Plaza at Berkeley.

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

Why do people solicit at colleges? Don't they know college students have no money because it is all spent on education and food? Or maybe they think we are just vulnerable because we are young.

They do it because they want to shape your future spending habits by familiarizing you with their products or services. When I was in college (late 1970s), the most notorious ones were the beer companies sponsoring frat parties--even though most undergrads are underage! I haven't heard whether campuses still allow that kind of yuckiness.

I knew certain college students that did manage to find money for non-educational stuff such as cheap beer and occasional weekend trips to Mexico.

[Billfred]

My goodness, don't get me started on the preachers.

We had a preacher set up on the green space right by the Russell House, and smack dab in front of Preston College (the most liberal and free-thinking residence hall on campus--strike one). Then he announced that he went to the University of Georgia and was in a fraternity (around here, that's strike two). Finally, he went into the classic fire-and-brimstone method, which, you guessed it, is strike three. Needless to say, some half of the building was countershouting as he preached until he moved to the Russell House patio (out of range). Even then, some of the Christians in the building were beating him at his own game (finding those parts of the Bible that he was conveniently ignoring in his argument).

As for the credit card companies, it seems that they've just quit trying on campus--now they're all in my mailbox.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by MissInformation

The "get things free" stuff can be useful... My friends and I were so poor in college we used to go to the mall and fill out all of the forms for credit cards just to get the free stuff (which for some reason was almost always 2 liter bottles of soda). Oddly enough, we were never actually sent any credit cards...

Heidi

I would double check that you were not issued those cards. My parents had a credit card stolen before it even left the state it was made in. Also, even if they weren't stolen having a lot of credit cards is a major no-no even if you don't use them.

Yes, religion is solicited as well. What's even scarier is when one of those people gets ahold of a microphone and something to stand on.

Heheh.... No offense to anyone but I am starting to get tired of liberal political groups with me living in the middle of Boston. The socialists, progressives, and democrats are starting to get boring especially since I see them everyday. There is one group that would always be singing as I walked to classes. Now I would just stand there and think what they were singing about. Aparently they were a liberal group but I could never figure out why until they handed me pamphlets. They were linked to an economist. I forgot his name. I also have had someone trying to sell me scalped tickets but unfortunately I bought and was carying the vex robot home with me so I had no money for that. Also, had the same person trying to get me to give him money in two differnt parts of Boston which was a bit creepy.

[MissInformation]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

I would double check that you were not issued those cards. My parents had a credit card stolen before it even left the state it was made in. Also, even if they weren't stolen having a lot of credit cards is a major no-no even if you don't use them.

Uh... I left out the part that we usually didn't give accurate information on the forms... We had some really creative names, like Pinder Streudalsnoot, and what not...

Heidi

[evulish]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Having a lot of credit cards is a major no-no even if you don't use them.

Yeah, any credit card you get and don't plan on using you should cancel. Having credit cards that you don't use at all can hurt your credit. Most college kids don't have much credit, so it's probably best to avoid having credit cards lie around.

The people who always annoyed me were the political solicitors during the elections. Yeah, it's the day before the election and they're gonna sway my vote. Uh-huh.

[Beth Sweet]

Oh wow is there. With 50,000 people of the prime age for advertisers in the same place, seems like it would be a good idea to me. The religious groups on campus aren't very bad here. There are more pizza and Jimmy John's flyers stuck in my door than any person could use in a lifetime. It's funny though, college kids have less money than anyone else I know...